FIRE'S POINT NOT ENOUGH

Bob Foltman, Tribune Staff WriterCHICAGO TRIBUNE

Despite leading Major League Soccer in scoring this season, the Fire on many occasions has not done well enough with the chances it has created. Saturday was no exception, and it cost the Fire a chance to take over first place in the Central Division.

The Fire and Tampa Bay Mutiny played a 0-0 draw before 14,157 at Soldier Field. The point for each team kept Tampa one ahead of the Fire in the race for the Central title. Tampa has 35 points and the Fire has 34.

The two teams have two games left with each other in the regular season, both in Tampa.

The draw tightened the Central Division from top to bottom. Dallas and Columbus won their matches Saturday, so now just five points separate the four teams in the division.

"The disappointing part on our end was our play in the final third of the field," Fire coach Bob Bradley said. "The last pass, the finish at times, the decision to shoot or pass to someone else were the plays that let us down."

The Fire took 18 shots but could only put four on goal. Tampa put four of its 12 shots on goal.

Fire goalkeeper Zach Thornton saved a point for the Fire in the third minute of overtime when he dived to his left and got a hand on Mamadou Diallo's header. After the save, even Diallo had to applaud Thornton.

With Chris Armas and Ante Razov in Guatemala with the U.S. national team, Bradley had to juggle his lineup. DaMarcus Beasley started alongside Josh Wolff at forward and Mike Sorber got the start in the midfield.

It looked as if Beasley was going to make an impact early.

In the game's first minute, Beasley broke in on the left side and was tackled in the Tampa penalty area, but referee Kevin Stott declined to call a penalty. Beasley volleyed a cross from Wolff in the eighth minute that appeared to graze the goal post.

"I thought DaMarcus had a pretty good start," Bradley said of the Fire's teenage prospect. "There were a few plays that didn't go his way and he appeared to lose a little bit of confidence. That's part of the development of a young player. Even when you let a few plays get away from you, you keep at it, keep pushing."

Beasley gave way to John Wolyniec in the 59th minute. Sorber had to come out in the 21st minute when he appeared to strain his right hamstring.

Evan Whitfield came in and played the right side of the midfield and created a few chances on the wing that ended up lacking a final finishing play.

Wolff had a couple of legitimate chances, the best coming in the 60th minute when he came in alone on the left side. Tampa goalkeeper Scott Garlick charged out and stuffed Wolff's attempt before he could take a good shot.

While the Fire was unable to finish the chances it had, it did a reasonably good job in shutting down Diallo, the league's leading goal scorer.

Diallo was credited with six shots, two on goal. A header in overtime was clearly the best chance of the night for Tampa, which played Wednesday in Washington, D.C., and traveled to Chicago on Thursday.

"When you go on the road against an excellent team like Chicago and battle hard, sometimes a point is a reward," Tampa coach Tim Hankinson said.